The training of pets such as dogs or cats is a popular hobby or profession, but the proper tools for performing such training have been known to be scarce and/or suffering from lack of suitability for the pets in question. One known form of training, especially popular for training dogs but also suitable for other types of animals, is a toy where a number of treats are placed into an opening and the pet by manipulating the toy can make the treats appear again through another opening and thereby receive a reward for playing with the toy.
One such toy is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,604, where a cubic toy has an entry opening for insertion of a treat and an internal spiral shaped path that leads to an exit opening on a side of the cube that is directly opposite that of the entry opening. This toy is, however, difficult to manoeuvre by the pet due to its shape and does not in the long run stimulate the pet enough.
Another toy is shown by WO2007149318, where the same basic principle is applied to a toy of a rounded shape that can be more easily handled by a pet for allowing a treat to slide along a spiral shaped path. The challenge to the pet is, however, limited since practically any kind of manipulation of the toy will result in the treat emerging from the exit opening. Rather than learning a technique that will give the desired result, the pet has only to pat the toy in a random way until the treat can be reached and eaten, and thanks to gravity the treat could even emerge by its own volition if the friction along the spiral path is low.
It is therefore evident that there is a need for a more stimulating toy for pets that present more of a challenge to the pet while at the same time enabling a clear reward for a desired behaviour.